The Good Ones

Capable of outlining, and even creating, reality, music is a dynamic conveyor of truth, both ugly and beautiful. When the Good Ones released their two-part folk harmonies on Kigali Y' Izahabu, sung in Kinyarwanda, a Rwandan dialect, it's no surprise they elicited a collective sigh ― part relief, part satisfaction ― born from the implied reassurance that out of the ashes of Rwanda's genocide there are creative shoots unfolding and extending outward. This begs the question: is this enough to warrant praise? All things being equal, and withholding the back-story, if the trio sang in English, they very well might have been disregarded as just another campfire folk trio with well-worn guitars. Luckily for them, the context cannot be separated from the music. It remains an attractive message, one that calls to mind things both ugly and beautiful, and which happens to feature some interesting harmonizing.